Crown Fountain, named in honor of Chicago's Crown family, was designed by Catalan conceptual artist Jaume Plensa, and is the first of its kind in the world. Transparent glass block bricks are used to build two 50-foot (15 m) towers standing at either end of a long, black granite plaza submerged under an eighth of an inch layer of water. Behind the glass bricks are high-tech LED video screens. When the screens are illuminated they show the faces of nearly a thousand individual Chicagoans, which showcases the vast diversity of the city. Playing on the theme of historical fountains based around gargoyles with water coming through the open mouth of the creature, each video includes specific moments where the person purses his or her lips and water spouts from a point in the display, such that it appears as if the person is spitting the water out. This happens roughly every five minutes, and there is also a continuous stream of water that cascades over the images. [The water is on from mid-spring through mid-fall each year (weather permitting,) while the images remain on year-round.]

Variant Titles:

Millennium Park: Crown Fountain

Topics:

Architecture -- United States -- 20th century -- (YVRC)Architecture -- United States -- 21st century -- (YVRC)

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